Wisconsin baby survives after drinking vodka in formula

MILWAUKEE: A 6-week-old girl in Wisconsin who was mistakenly given baby formula mixed with two shots of vodka was expected to be released from a hospital on Wednesday, police said.

The baby had a blood alcohol level of 0.294, more than three times the legal limit for an adult driver, after receiving the vodka-tainted formula on Monday night, Kenosha police spokesman Bradley Hetlet said.

Hetlet said investigators believe it was a mistake and the girl’s parents will not be charged for the alcohol incident. Her father was charged separately for altercations that ensued after the girl began to suffer from the alcohol, he said.

Hetlet said the girl’s mother told police she filled a container with water to be used for the baby’s bottle, set it on a kitchen counter and left the room. The girl’s father entered the kitchen, emptied the container and filled it with vodka, intending to take the water bottle to a friend’s home.

When the mother returned to the kitchen, she mixed about two ounces of the liquid with baby formula and fed her baby, Hetlet said. The parents realized the error when the child began acting abnormally, he said.

“Then the blame game started,” he said.

Several fights ensued between the girl’s 22-year-old father and her mother, family members and police as rescue workers arrived and then rushed the baby to a hospital, Hetlet said.